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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

This is why the Office of the Children's Commissioner needs to go or be radically changed


Most would have heard of the news that Wiremu and Michael Curtis have been found guilty of the murder of Nia Glassie, with her mother, Lisa Kuku, guilty of manslaughter. Curtis had been in a relationship with Kuku The brothers were found guilty of spinning the child on a clothesline and guilty of wilful ill-treatment by putting her in a tumbledryer.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner say that justice has been done. But then this:
New Zealand has a high tolerance to violence and much of the violence towards children is perpetrated in the name of discipline. There are no acceptable ways of hitting children.
“To protect children we need to focus on quality parenting.
It is utterly disgraceful linking this case to discipline and parenting when one of the people who fatally kicked Nia Glassie in the head was not even the parent. But I spoke with Josie Vidal from the Office of the Children's Commissioner and she told me that it was her opinion that in many cases like this, children suffer such abuse after being disciplined. Instead of abusing kids, parents should seeking parenting advice. How?
by picking up the telephone, visiting one of these offices in their area, or searching on the Internet for courses that might suit them.
That's the only advice the Office of the Children's Commissioner can provide. If you beat up your kids and want help you can pick up the phone or search the Internet. That is utterly disgraceful. Of course many don't want help or are not their parents - so won' be eligible for parenting courses. What do they do.

The answer is obvious - they kill kids. And what does the Children's Commissioner do? Write a media release after the decision from the judge and move onto the next item on the agenda.

Read more here

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Scoopit!

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Totally agree, Dave/ Those comments are typical of the current commissioner, hopefully to be changed soon. Also, the defense lawyer was just on TV, something like 'we should love our children because we don't know how long they'll be around for', another inane comment I would have thought, considering Nia's death was not accidental and totally preventable. Also, I resent the comments about discipline, her abuse had nothing to do with disciple and everything to do with torture, abuse and abslulte cruetly. John Key, you have a challenge ahead here, and a golden opportunity. Judith Collins would amke an excellent commisioner if she was free, much more common sense needed, please.

November 18, 2008 at 5:42 PM  
Blogger Steve Withers said...

"New Zealand has a high tolerance to violence and much of the violence towards children is perpetrated in the name of discipline."

This sentence stands alone and is perfectly accurate. The abuse and death of Nia IS in that broader context. The exact relationships of her various abusers aren't the issue.

They have done nothing wrong by drawing attention to the wider context in which family violence toward children occurs.

November 18, 2008 at 6:11 PM  
Blogger Lucy said...

As long as discipline is confused with abuse there is no hope for our children.

November 18, 2008 at 6:17 PM  
Blogger Swimming said...

This sentence stands alone and is perfectly accurate
Yeah? Not the violence we are talking about here.. in any case discipline by people that are not caregivers is as much against the law as if I were to hit you or chuck you in a clothes dryer and tuen it on - and so the abuse in this case is not discipline at all - so why the link to discipline when there is no link in this case? Explain that.

November 18, 2008 at 6:23 PM  
Blogger ZenTiger said...

And who on the left would actually argue that these people would used s59 to get off?

If any judge found such people not guilty by reason of "reasonable force for the purposes of discipline" then it is a clear sign to scrap the judge, not the law.

November 18, 2008 at 9:33 PM  
Blogger Steve Withers said...

zentiger: It wasn't judges letting people off via s59. It was juries. Bashed your kid with a cricket bat? No problem said the jury. This is one reason why public attitudes to "discipline" are very much the issue.

November 19, 2008 at 7:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There are no acceptable ways of hitting children.
“To protect children we need to focus on quality parenting.


This says it all and until we weed out the people in our agencies with this mindset we will never get this sorted out.

Cindy Kiro must go and all like her too.

That she considers 80% of Kiwi parents "beaters" shows how wonky Helen Clark and Labour are for leaving her in place.
MikeNZ

November 19, 2008 at 12:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Truthseeker you state:-
"This is one reason why public attitudes to "discipline" are very much the issue".

This is not the problem.
It is you and those like you who are the problem.

Parents giving their kids a smack as discipline is a far cry from beating a child.

you know it too.

you're more interested in pushing a political agenda than common sense.

as a consequence you do feel good stupid stuff like push for law changes that ping everyone.
and especially the 80% of parents who bring up their children the best that they can.

But you do bugger all except liberal handwring as once again a child get killed by perpetrators they live with.

A situation that can be profiled, monitored and dealt too but do you advocate that?

I keep asking myself why don't you do the right thing?

none of my answers are printable.

Accept that your ilk have a perverse reverse racism.

As it seems to me the kids who get killed in the main are brown and poor.
That thought fills me with fury as all kids no matter their race or demographic deserve a fantastic upbringing.

As far as i am concerned you and your ilk are as responsible
for the Nia Glassies of this world as the actual perpetrators because of the inaction your engender by your politiking.

That's why Cindy Kiro as your poster girl must go.
MikeNZ

November 19, 2008 at 12:50 PM  

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